D&D 5E (2014) How do you run a game in Ravnica?

[Paul Farquhar]

Eberron has a metaplot that's advanced through the Editions, so you're factually wrong again.

It had some none-KB content in 3rd edition, because of the obsession with metaplot at that time, but the timeline was reset to 10 years after the great war, and none of that ever happened. KB himself is keen to point out things in Eberron for which there is no "canon" and the DM should decide for themselves, such as the actual cause of the Mourning.

DMs have to either pick a previous era or deal with whatever revelations the next Ravnica storyline brings about.

No, you do not. As WotC keep pointing out, the version of [setting] at your table is not the version at Bob's table is not the version at Kate's table is not the version in MTG is not the version in the novels. For very good reasons. If you let yourself become a slave to metaplot, then the players can never do anything, can never change anything, in case their actions contradict future metaplot developments.

 

[Cheshire Sphinx]

I recently ran Waterdeep Dragon Heist set on Ravnica - it went rather well, if I do say so myself. I basically said in my own head that the War of the Spark was not going to happen, and that all the inter-guild tension described in the book was over the missing treasure horde in Dragon Heist. I did tone the Rakdos down a bit since I had a player who wanted to play one without being disruptive. The players made characters all from different guilds - which I encouraged, since GGtR says it can support multi-guild parties! It worked fine. Broke down the faction missions and whatnot and reassigned them individually to appropriate guilds rather than trying to match the Dragon Heist factions 1-to-1 to guilds. The biggest problem I ran into, I think, was properly communicating how bizarrely exaggerated the architecture of Ravnica could get. The map in GGtR really doesn't match the art on the cards in the sets when it comes to the scale of buildings - which is unfortunate, because I remember "there's a map of the Tenth District" being a pretty big selling point in the marketing.

 

[Necropolitan]

No, you do not. As WotC keep pointing out, the version of [setting] at your table is not the version at Bob's table is not the version at Kate's table is not the version in MTG is not the version in the novels. For very good reasons. If you let yourself become a slave to metaplot, then the players can never do anything, can never change anything, in case their actions contradict future metaplot developments.

Nah, if you change too much about a setting it stops being that setting.

If you don't want to deal with the Guilds then why are you even playing in Ravnica?

 

[DEFCON 1]

Nah, if you change too much about a setting it stops being that setting.

If you don't want to deal with the Guilds then why are you even playing in Ravnica?

Well, it stops being the author's/designer's/publisher's setting at the time the book was written... but it is still (general) your setting. But of course that is true of every single setting book. As soon as a DM runs a game in any setting, there is no more so-called 'canon' because everything done at the table is not "real" so far as the author/designer/publisher is concerned. Even for settings that have supposed 'metaplot'. So one can run a published setting quite fine and it just evolves into their own as a matter of course.

As far as the Guilds question... I am not familiar with Ravnica so I cannot say for certain... but any setting is not just one thing, they are many things. Some might be written to have more focus that other things, but that doesn't mean one has to subscribe to that focus. So there are quite possibly other things within the world of Ravnica that might be interesting to a DM that do not directly relate to the Guilds. The same way one can run an Eberron game where the Dragonmarked Houses have very little influence over the game, or a Theros campaign that doesn't involve the Gods at all. Sure, it might be ignoring a large flagpole that a particular setting raised their flag on... but that doesn't mean it's impossible nor not interesting to look at the small flags.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I would say the guilds are pretty important to Ravnica. They are the megacorps of Ravnica's pseudo-cyberpunk dystopia.

And, of course, I clearly did not at any time suggest removing them.

 

[Necropolitan]

any setting is not just one thing, they are many things. Some might be written to have more focus that other things, but that doesn't mean one has to subscribe to that focus.

That's like claiming that chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips are still chocolate chip cookies. Or that replacing the chocolate chips with ground beef means they're still chocolate chip cookies.

Specific settings have specific details you can't remove without removing that which makes them that setting.

There's a reason the term "In Name Only" exists.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

The biggest problem I ran into, I think, was properly communicating how bizarrely exaggerated the architecture of Ravnica could get. The map in GGtR really doesn't match the art on the cards in the sets when it comes to the scale of buildings - which is unfortunate, because I remember "there's a map of the Tenth District" being a pretty big selling point in the marketing.

Oh, Duh! Of course one can use the cards for art and inspiration. I kind of wish they had used more of the MtG art in the book itself. Maybe future MtG settings (if we get any) will have that. They used them in the Dragons book recently released.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There are practical issues of very large buildings (in any setting). They are a lot of work to map, and unless you want to focus on mega-dungeon type play, big dungeons slow down the plot. You can of course, just pick a level of the building that is relevant to the players, and contrive to keep the PCs out of the rest of the building. This is fairly typical in Shadowrun, and I've used it for adventures in Sharn.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I've played a Ravnica game that was pretty successful.

The party consisted of 3 members of Selesnya (a paladin, a wizard, and a cleric), one Boros bro (a sorcerer), one of the Izzet League (an artificer), and my character, a loxodon warlock from the Orzhov (his hook was: "What if the IMF + the Catholic Church were an elephant man?").

It worked pretty well, overall. The Selesnya wizard was brothers with the Boros sorcerer, so they had a family relationship that went in front of their guild differences (and both have some White, so it's not like they were truly far apart). The Izzet artificer and my Orzhov warlock shared a bond something like a silicon valley tech CEO and their investor. The artificer was amoral and focused on just being the special-est smart boy in the room, and my warlock knew this person would be a good source of money for the family, even if it was just selling him insurance.

The threat that united the party was a threat to the whole of Ravnica, and potential apocalypses aren't a bad way to motivate a diverse group to work together. Even the Gruul and the Rakdos want to live, after all. We definitely weren't as close as a typical D&D party (though I think the Selesnya + Boros contingent were all quite friendly), but had a sort of professional interest and courtesy.

The bigwig NPC's made appearances as basically pointers on the plot. One -- the Izzet dragon -- wound up as the chief antagonist. The Selesnya leader made an appearance to help direct us to the goal, and the Rakdos demon was actually the one who could solve our problem (which is fun, since they're very villain-coded, but like I mentioned, nobody wants to DIE).

It was a pretty good success, and I was a big fan of the character I played. They were undead pact, and it was flavored as the spirits and literal bones and tusks of the ancestors. The vibe of the look was like an elephant graveyard turned into a Gothic cathedral. It also let me play against type a bit, since loxodons are typically white or white/green. A white/black kind of vibe on a loxo is a good look, and the character wound up VERY effective (basically a bladelock with a maul made of bones and ghosts and HP comparable to party tanks, and a skelington familiar - flavored as someone who owed my character a debt repaying it after their death - to provide some Help actions).

TL;DR it works fine. Let folks get weird and figure out a plot that puts EVERYONE at risk and your party (assuming the players are chill) will find a reason to work together.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Just a mention for Foundation (series 3 currently showing on Apple TV). Trantor is a world city (probably the original) and a fungus farming area controlled by a weird cult is currently plot-relevant. If I remember correctly this is also how Ravnica produces it's food.